The News-Leader reports much of the increase involves fuel and transmission costs and those for new generating plants that are typically passed on to consumers.

The commission has approved about $1.3 billion of additional revenue since 2007 for Dominion Virginia Power. A residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month has seen bills rise 18 percent, or $16.63, in the past five years to $107.23.

The commission says average bills for customers of Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative have fallen 5 percent since 2007, while bills for BARC Electric Cooperative customers have risen slightly.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that a proposed agreement between world powers and Iran was "a bad deal" that would not stop Tehran from getting nuclear weapons -- but would rather pave its way to getting lots of them and lea...